Friday, August 20, 2010

The Symposium was pure magic. Huge thanks to all involved. I'm planning to have a couple of more focused posts after this one, but here's everything that didn't fit into those.

I did a sketch on the plane on the way in. I was pretty sure everyone else would have a plane (or train) sketch and I didn't want to feel left out. I also figured it'd be smart to warm up a bit.

Yes, plunged into sketching pretty much as soon as we hit town. Here's Gérard Michel and Pete Scully as we found them upon arrival, sketching away!

A lot of the sketching I got down during the Symposium was snatched in odd, quick moments. I was so busy, I didn't find time for "proper" sketches. Here's three scattered quick views sharing a page.
(If you look closely, you'll spot Gérard on his little stool sketching this view of Jamison Park.)

Here's some more, even quicker ones of Union Station. Three minutes is plenty sometimes!

Sue van Etten caught me running up the Union Station footbridge (all of my Union Station sketches are from up there)...moving fast so I can squeeze in a little time for sketching if I'm lucky.

My sketch for Gabi is from that staircase, too:

Below, another view from the Union Station footbridge, and below that, fellow instructors Frank Ching, Isabel Fiadeiro, and Gabi Campanario relaxing after another crazy day.

Here's photos of that one happening, courtesy Pete and Gabi:

I led groups for the first three field sessions, so by the time Friday afternoon rolled around I was so relieved to not be on-duty that I splashed out to the middle of Ira's Fountain (perhaps my favorite place in all of Portland).

Can you spot Suzanne Cabrera, Lapin, and Liz Steele in there? Here's a closer view of Lapin and Suzanne:

And for more sketching the sketchers, here's Elizabeth and Carrie in Jamison Park on Saturday morning:

And finally (for this post), here's Lapin and Matt at dinner the final night. Lapin and I were sketching each other simultaneously. The original of this is rather huge, as I drew it right on the table cloth. (Here's his sketch of me.)

about the symposium

In late July of 2010, the city of Portland, Oregon (USA), became a canvas for drawing enthusiasts from around the world as Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) and Urban Sketchers (USK) hosted the 1st International Urban Sketching Symposium. The three-day event attracted participants and presenters from diverse corners of the world. In addition to the U.S., other countries represented were Australia, Belgium, Canada, Mauritania, Italy, Japan, Singapore, the Dominican Republic and Spain. The program consisted of lectures, panels, exhibits and field sketching sessions led by a diverse team of international presenters with backgrounds in art education, architecture, illustration and journalism. This blog documents the experience since the Symposium was announced in March. A selection of photographs from the event can be found in this flickr collection. Sketches produced by participants during the event can also be seeing on the Symposium flickr group.

Other Portland resources

World Wide SketchCrawl Day

We'll be observing the 28th World Wide SketchCrawl on July 31st, the third day of the Symposium, in addition to the scheduled program. The global sketching marathons were started by San Francisco artist Enrico Casarosa in 2004. It's a day when people across the world get out to draw wherever they are. Visit the SketchCrawl Forum to arrange sketching meetups in Portland and elsewhere.